Paris, March 7, 2005 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announced that it has been chosen by Scarlet, a large competitive operator in Belgium and the Netherlands, as strategic technology provider for the roll out of Scarlet's broadband infrastructure and for the integration of innovative broadband services in both countries. As a first step, Alcatel will deliver a broadband access infrastructure in Belgium and the Netherlands. Alcatel's overall solution also includes broadband aggregation optical transport solutions, integration, operation and maintenance services.
By transitioning to a facilities based broadband provider, Scarlet is supporting its quickly expanding customer base. For Scarlet, having their own broadband network is very important as it will decrease the cost of leasing DSL lines from other service providers, and it will allow Scarlet to react faster and more flexibly to changing market requirements with appealing new broadband services.
Gilbert de Bree, Chief Technology Officer, of Scarlet commented: " Scarlet has selected the Alcatel 7300 ASAM because of its ability to support our 'all over DSL' strategy. It will support our current ATM based portfolio and enabling IP-based services from the start of the rollout, together with ADSL2plus capabilities. Scarlet will be able to support market needs for IP based services requiring significantly more bandwidth than today's offered services. In a future step, we intend to select Alcatel for an end-to-end integrated IPTV solution in collaboration with Microsoft", concluded Mr. De Bree.
According to Tjeerd X. van Sitteren, Chief Business Development Officer, "Scarlet has chosen to rollout its own DSLAM network to create full independence, flexibility and the ability to develop new services to support market needs. Scarlet aims to finalize the DSLAM rollout by mid 2006 thus have broadband coverage in 75% of both the Netherlands and Belgium".
"It's interesting to see how the broadband access market is rapidly evolving, and several smaller emerging alternate service providers are claiming their piece of the broadband opportunity, which is enabled by local loop unbundling," said Michel Rahier, chief operating officer of Alcatel's fixed communications activities. "Scarlet is now taking a step forward. The breadth of our portfolio and services, and our experience in the broadband market, enables Scarlet to evolve towards the service Triple Play of voice, video and data."
This further reinforces Alcatel's leadership in the global DSL and optical networking markets. In DSL, Alcatel holds a cumulative market share of 37.8% based on the fourth quarter 2004 data from industry analyst Dell'Oro Group. Alcatel has shipped more than 58 million lines and its broadband access solutions are prominent in networks of over 120 service providers worldwide.
About Scarlet
Scarlet is an emerging alternate service provider and MVNO operating in Belgium and the Netherlands. Scarlet offers fixed and mobile voice, internet access, and data networks to consumers and enterprises. Since launching a service bundle of free fixed calls, combined with a mobile SIM card and high speed internet access in December of 2004, Scarlet has experienced a rapid growth of their Belgian and Netherlands subscriber base. For more information, visit Scarlet on the Internet http://www.scarlet.biz
Scarlet Press Contact
| Sandra Ottens | Tel :+ 31 320 29 4494 | sandra.ottens@scarlet.biz |
About the Alcatel's solution for Scarlet
For the broadband access portion of the network, Alcatel is delivering the 7300 Advanced Services Access Manager with the 5523 ADSL Work Station element management system, the Alcatel 7310 Loop Voice Gateway to deliver voice over DSL, and the Alcatel 5530 Network Analyzer for DSL network diagnosis and analysis.
For optical broadband aggregation, Alcatel is also supplying its data-aware Optical Multi-Service Node (OMSN) systems that provide a reliable networking solution for broadband aggregation and enable the delivery of new user-centric services including Triple Play, video distribution and Ethernet VPN services. To further accelerate the widespread delivery of video services, Scarlet is also leveraging the Alcatel 1696 Metro Span DWDM and 1692 Metro Span Edge CWDM solutions. The optical networking equipment is managed by the Alcatel 1350 management suite.
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks; applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.3 billion in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. | |
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